What did you do in the garden today?

[BReeder!]

No gardening today. Trip into the city this morning to drop off something and pick up something else and then grabbed lunch with a friend. After that we took the kids to my parents to swim in the pool.

 

[BReeder!]

There was a mention of canning supplies... I need lids and rings for wide mouth jars. I have 100 jars but only a small amount of lids and rings. Any recommendations for buying lids and rings in bulk inexpensively?

 

[SubArcticFowl]

I finally got the last of my garden planted out today. This is the latest ever, but it has been a cold spring. I do no one old-timer around here that doesn't plant until June 15.

I also made the decision not to build a bigger greenhouse this summer. I'm going to focus on other differed maintenance around the yard, painting, fence repair, redoing the brick patio, etc.

 

[StuporMan]

Not much beyond rejoicing that the pepper plants my geese and ducks stripped down actually somehow survived, i don't know how they managed to get to it (I had planted it in an area with fencing to help prevent that as I was under the impression that pepper leaves could be toxic but they must've missed that memo) and are now growing new leaves as well as bell peppers!

 

[chickengr]

Not much beyond rejoicing that the pepper plants my geese and ducks stripped down actually somehow survived, i don't know how they managed to get to it (I had planted it in an area with fencing to help prevent that as I was under the impression that pepper leaves could be toxic but they must've missed that memo) and are now growing new leaves as well as bell peppers!

pepper leaves are not toxic. tomato leaves are if eaten in big quantities. my chickens manage to chop some tomato leaves and survive.

 

[chickengr]

it is raining here which means I'll have to water anyway but less than usual.

I had a hell of a day yesterday. my dogs made a hole in their fence and killed 2 pekin hens and 4 guinea keets. my sweet pekin roo is in a very bad condition. the guy who made fence sweared they will not be able to break it. I could not convince him to enhance it at the corner and had nobody to do it better.

 

[littledog]

I have NOT see boxes or sleeves of canning lids anywhere I've been; target, home depot, menards, lowes, the amish/mennonite market, AceHardware, Orsheln, Tractor suppy, and two local grocery chains

Noticed reusable jar lids on Amazon and ordered some of them- some of mine go in the freezer and the lids rust. We will see if these are worth the investment. Soon I can let the canning begin.

They have them, but OMG the prices!!! I pay 3.99 MAX for a dozen flat lids (no rings) and I only get Ball or Kerr stamped, not the ones that say compatible with.....many of those can be questionable off brands with heaven knows what in the lid bottom and sealing ring.

Bought some Ball caps & rings a few weeks ago for some pickles. Water bath canning and when I put the tops on, the lids kinda wrinkled up a litle. Never had that happen before. Went ahead and let them cool. Wrong move. 3 of the 5 did not seal.

The company that makes them is out of NY, but I'm guessing probably made in China, couldn't find any made in USA unfortunately.

There was a mention of canning supplies... I need lids and rings for wide mouth jars. I have 100 jars but only a small amount of lids and rings. Any recommendations for buying lids and rings in bulk inexpensively?

I haven't been able to find canning jar lids for close to a year, and I check everywhere I go - grocery stores, various feed stores. I can find jars with lids and boxes of lids+rings, but I don't need jars or rings.
Reading posts on a canning site, it seems like a lot of the stuff Amazon is selling as supposedly "Kerr" and "Ball" brand names are really Chinese knockoffs that are lower quality.
I looked into those reusable lids from "Harvest Guard" and they got good reviews, although apparently you use them a little differently. So I ordered a good supply of regular and wide-mouth lids from them quite a while ago, I think January or February.
I got an email from them a few weeks later, stating basically,

"We've had a huge increase in orders, plus a slowdown in our production due to covid and difficulty sourcing raw materials. We looked into alternate sources, but decided against them because we want to maintain our quality so we're sticking with known suppliers. This means we're putting new orders on hold for a while, but everyone who has a pending order will get your lids, but please bear with us, it will take a while, but we understand if you cancel your order."

I emailed them back, thanking them for their honesty and commitment to quality, telling them I don't want to cancel my order and am willing to be patient, since canning season around here won't be until late summer or fall. I haven't heard anything back, but I still have hopes they will come through with my order. In the meantime, I will keep an eye out for lids at all the stores I go to.

We are getting a big soaker coming at us next 2 days so
nothing will be done in the garden

Yep, we're now in the middle of that soaker, haha. I did get out there to plant carrots (bought a new seed pack, right before finding the missing one LOL) and pole beans. Then I had to change in the laundry room, since my pants were soaked with mud/rain up to the knees. But we're due for some nice weather starting Thursday!

I'm more of a "look shiney!" type of gardener myself. I typically start at one end of the yard - lets say, cleaning poop boards - then notice the grow out pen needs to be moved, then notice the bunnies need more fodder, go to cut some sunchoke tops, then notice I don't have my pruners, then start inside to get some pruners then since I'm going inside I should take the eggs with me then notice the water cups need cleaning and then and then and then. Very efficient..

Oh, that is SO me, too! LOL! My "plan" for yesterday was to prune and string up the tomatoes, and cut cardboard for in between the beds and cover that with wood chips.

What I ended up doing: Feeding the chickens, noticed we only had 1/2 a bag of feed left. Convinced Mr. Dog to come with me to the feed store, bought a couple months worth of chicken feed, also a couple months of horse grain so I didn't have to go back, looked around the whole store and cooed over the chicks, also bought a thing to hang the hose on and a packet of carrot seeds.

Came home and moved all the feed bags, installed the hose hanger, admired it, let the dog outside to admire it and took her for a walk around the field, where Mr. Dog got involved with weeding around all the baby trees. In the meantime, I noticed the asparagus needed cutting, planted carrots and pole beans, hoed around the sunflowers and tomatoes, cut the asparagus, thought I should collect the eggs since I was bringing the asparagus inside, saw the nest boxes needed cleaning and new wood chips...by this time it was starting to get dark, so I did one measly chore that had been part of the "plan," pruned the tomatoes. Never got around to stringing them, because I forgot where I left the twine - it was on the kitchen table for some reason - right next to the packet of carrot seeds I'd just replaced because I couldn't find them.

 

[Sally PB]

I need lids and rings for wide mouth jars. I have 100 jars but only a small amount of lids and rings. Any recommendations for buying lids and rings in bulk inexpensively?

https://www.fillmorecontainer.com/closures.html?cat=687

I bought these last summer when I couldn't find ANY lids ANYWHERE. I don't recall the price, other than I thought it was very reasonable, so $75ish for 175. And it does state they are made in the USA.

It turned out I had enough Ball lids, so I didn't use them, and can't comment on the sealing quality. I plan to try them on my first batch of "anything wide mouth" that I can to test them, and I will report back. But it might be a while....

 

[Phaedra Geiermann]

Harvested salat and planted warmth-loving veggies, cleaned and deadheaded Rhododendrons, while our girls enjoyed watermelon and the homegrown salats.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. Our overnight rain started nearly 2 hours ago and it's still coming down. I did manage to get out and feed the chickens and take a quick walk around the garden before breakfast. Everything is looking good. I got a picture of some of the potato buds, not open yet but still growing bigger. Then I got a picture of the big garden so I have a visual of what it looks like in mid June. So next year I'll have that for a reference to temper my expectations. The cookout went well. I love my new grills. The ribs and wings were delicious and thankfully we have some leftovers. Yay! With that and the leftover salads we are doing very little cooking this week. I owe DD a lobster roll for all her help and just because it's that time of year. I really should have taken a picture of the peach tree this morning. It is looking so much better and nearly all the curly leaves are gone and have been replaced with healthy looking leaves. I keep on the lookout for canning lids. I do like those reusable plastic ones. I replace the metal lids on the jars I open if I'm not using all the contents right away. Welcome to the newcomers on the thread. It's nice to have more northern gardeners here. Our last frost date was in mid May, but it was cold enough over the Memorial Day weekend that I had to run my pellet stove to keep the house warm. So after that we get a heatwave. Good grief! Have a great day everyone.

So I won't panic next year when nothing seems to be growing...

Let's see how long it takes to bloom...

And Princess, my favorite lap chicken